The psychology of prophecy in early Christianity

LIFECODE: AN EXAMINATION OF THE SHAPE, THE NATURE, AND THE USAGE OF THE OIKOSCODE, A REPLICATIVE NONFORMAL LEARNING PATTERN OF ETHICAL EDUCATION FOR LEADERS AND COMMUNITY GROUPS

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Lifecode: An Examination of the Shape, the Nature, and the Usage of the Oikoscode, a Replicative Nonformal Learning Pattern of Ethical Education for Leadership and Community Groups

GNOTICISM Jewish elements in gnosticism: the problem defined It should be obvious even from a cursory reading of Gnostic literature that there are Jewish elements in Gnosticism. These elements are of many different kinds, and may be classified in many different ways, but for our present purposes it will be sufficient to distinguish two broad categories – biblical and non-biblical. To the first category belong the quotations from, or allusions to, the Old Testament in the Gnostic texts. (For convenience we may include here also much Gnostic exegesis of the Old Testament.) Into the second category may be put all those Gnostic ideas, motifs, literary genres, technical terms and formulae which have been paralleled more or less convincingly in post-biblical Jewish literature. It is important to realize that the significance of an element will vary according to the category into which it falls. The Jewishness of elements in category one is not, in the last analysis, open to question. We may speculate on how Old Testament materials found their way into Gnosticism (whether through Christianity, pre-Christian Jewish Gnosticism, or by direct borrowing from Judaism), but that they are Jewish can hardly be disputed. The Jewishness of elements in category two, on the other hand, is often problematic. We are dealing here in the first instance with parallelism, and that creates a host of problems. We must establish that the parallelism we perceive is real and significant – in itself no small task. Then we must face the question of origins: who has borrowed from whom? There is a tendency for scholars to assume that in cases of parallelism Gnosticism is indebted to Judaism.

Jewish elements in gnosticism and magic c. ce 70– c. ce 270

The early liturgy of the synagogue

The Diaspora in the Roman period before ce 70

The relation of the so-called ‘mystical’ to the so-called ‘juridical’ aspect of Paul's theology has been frequently discussed. While Albert Schweitzer thought that the doctrine of justification by faith was no more than a ‘side-crater’ in the Pauline theology, Rudolf Bultmann considered the idea of a participation in the destiny of Christ a Gnostic influence not really fitting into the Pauline pattern of thought. This disagreement is not of merely historical interest; behind it lies the central theological problem of the significance of Jesus' life, death and resurrection for us today. Is this significance to be expressed in the categories of an example to be followed or a forerunner, who opens the way ahead for us, or are the categories of sacrificial or vicarious death more adequate? At first sight, the two patterns seem to contradict each other. According to the first, the believer dies with Christ; Christ's death becomes the believer's death; according to the second, Christ dies under the curse of divine judgement, lest the believer undergo this judgement. However, the first observation that we make in the Pauline texts is the coincidence of both lines in the same sentence: II Cor. v. 14: ‘One has died for all; therefore all have died’; I Thess. v. 10: ‘Christ died for us so that whether we wake or sleep we might live with him.’

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0028688500018476

Dying and Rising with Christ

The topic of my paper is particularly suitable for a Presidential Address to our Society, because so many of you have contributed, in no inconsiderable way, to the elucidation of its problems. What I shall try to do is simply to bring together some of the results of your work and then to build upon them. We have, in our common research, reached a point where it makes sense to look back on what we have discovered and to put up some signposts to mark our future course. When I say so, it is not merely an act of politeness; it is rather the expression of my appreciation of so many contributions from you without which my understanding of the first Gospel would not have been possible.

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Observance of the Law and Charismatic Activity in Matthew

Am Anfang der Feldrede stehen bekanntlich drei (Luk. vi. 20 f.), am Anfang der Bergpredigt acht Seligpreisungen oder Heilrufe (Matth. v. 3–10), wobei der spater zugewachsene Spruch uber die Verfolgten hier nicht berucksichtigt wird. Bei Lukas sind die Heilrufe durch entsprechende Weherufe erganzt. Beide Versionen zeigen gegenuber den Vorlagen charakteristische Unterschiede auf, die hier zusammengestellt werden sollen.

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Formgeschichtliches zu den Seligpreisungen Jesu

When Mark wrote his gospel, the kerygma had long since conquered the world. Paul had overcome a religion of the law limited to Israel and to a few proselytes who were courageous enough to pledge themselves to a total obedience to the law. Colossians, Ephesians, the hymn in I Tim. iii. 16 and the post-Pauline doxology Rom. xvi. 25–7 show how enthusiastically the triumphal journey of Christ through the world was praised. A most imposing ‘theology of the kerygma’ was arising. However, what had all this to do with Jesus? Was not the theology of grace, the emphasis on justification without the works of law all that was needed? Palestine was far away, and very few would have known about that remote corner of the earth with its strange population and its superstitious habits. Thus, Jesus was a mere name without much meaning, a symbol, maybe, for the kerygma, but not more. Why, therefore, not connect the kerygma with Hermes or Attis or any other saviour? The Gnostics were about to draw this consequence

Eduard Schweizer

Papers

Dying and Rising with Christ

Observance of the Law and Charismatic Activity in Matthew

Formgeschichtliches zu den Seligpreisungen Jesu

Mark's Contribution to the Quest of the Historical Jesus